Covid-19 in Aylmer

On March 17, Chénier was forced to close her boutique when Quebec Premier François Legault ordered to temporarily shut down all non-essential businesses in the province – now extended until May 4.

On April 6, Chénier resumed business activities exclusively online after her website underwent a complete overhaul. 

In an effort to keep serving its client base while respecting social distancing guidelines, her boutique is offering a home delivery service with free shipping on orders of $35 or more. On the bright side, she noted that the crisis has provided her the time necessary to bring her website up to date. “In all situations there’s a positive and I’m looking at it that way,” Chénier said. 

Mainly known for a wide variety of cut flowers, Chénier has removed them entirely from her inventory because of their short lifespans. The flowers were donated to people in the community, including seniors’ homes. She added that the hardest part about stopping flower sales was determining how she was going to substitute such a significant part of her business. “Generally, when you go to a florist, you want to get flowers,” she said. “We had numerous clients who said, ‘I won’t bother this year and try again next year.’”

Another challenge for Chénier, since the start of the outbreak, has been promoting the rest of her products to clients through her website, including mature plants, gourmet chocolates, and various soaps. “We have things other than flowers,” Chénier said. “It’s about proposing other things to our clientele so that they can still have something to receive or give.” At the start of the pandemic, one of Chénier’s worries was the uncertainty of how her business’s Easter-related sales would be affected.

Having had to let go four part-time employees, Chénier has been operating the business alone with her husband Louis helping with deliveries. But now, worries have shifted to Mother’s Day – typically one of her busiest times of the year.

Since most of her flowers come from outside the country, Chénier worries that an early-May re-opening won’t allow her enough time to sufficiently serve clients with Mother’s Day bouquets. “If planes aren’t working, we don’t have any material,” she said. “So, we won’t have anything to sell.”

“If distributors aren’t open, what do we do?” she added. “We don’t have flowers in the garden out back. They come from elsewhere.” Chénier added that not being able to meet customers in person has also required some adjustment.

Shouldering significant losses in revenue from the crisis, Chénier expressed concern for the financial well-being of her business. “We have fixed expenditures, like a mortgage,” she said. We turned off the heat to save as much money as possible, but it’s not a lot. At the end of the month, it’s not the heat that costs the most, but that’s part of the challenge of running a business.”

Now back at work, Chénier has been at the boutique regularly, taking customer orders online and by phone and she is doing what she can to follow proper hygienic procedures to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. 

Uncertain about what the future will bring, from the re-opening of her boutique to the availability of her suppliers, Chénier plans on being ready for whatever happens next.

Mr. Muffler Tires and Mechanic Garage

For Stéphane Roy, owner of Mr. Muffler Tires and Mechanic garage on chemin McConnell, the pandemic has caused significant financial repercussions. “Recovering from this is going to take some time,” he said.

Forced by the government to temporarily close up shop on March 27, after Legault’s announcement, Roy operated the garage solo, exclusively serving essential-service vehicles. “If there was an emergency, I arrived to the shop and did what I could,” he said.

Unable to completely run his business for multiple weeks, Roy noted that his business has accounted tens of thousands of dollars lost. “I’d say about 70-80 thousand,” Roy said.

Just on the verge of entering his business’s most profitable period of year, Roy said that the crisis couldn’t have occurred at a worse time. “If it had happened in January-February, it’s a bit slow,” he said, “but April, May and June are our big months.”

While business was going smoothly in early March, Roy said he and his employees finally grasped the gravity of the situation, when Legault ordered non-essential businesses to close indefinitely on March 23. “If the month had kept going like it was, we would’ve had a normal month of March,” he said. “It was like a baseball swing to the legs.”

With five full-time employees on payroll, one of Roy’s biggest causes for stress was not being able to provide them with a steady income during an unprecedented crisis.  But ultimately, they understood the severity of what was happening, Roy said. “I didn’t have a choice,” he said. “We had to stop the bleeding, as they say.” Fortunately, re-opened on April 15, Roy said his garage has already exploded with business, since people can finally get their vehicles looked after for the first time in nearly a month. He said he was relieved not to have had to wait until May, because another two weeks out of business would have cost around $100,000, Roy said.

To ensure his employees safety in the workplace, Roy has implemented a number of precautionary measures, including wearing masks and gloves, disinfecting surfaces with rubbing alcohol sprays, and not allowing clients to enter the shop. “Everything is done by phone,” he said. “They pay by credit card and we leave everything in the vehicle. So, there’s no contact with clients. It’s a bit difficult to manage, but we don’t have a choice.”

Considering that all of his employees are under the age of 50, Roy said he’s grateful that they are most likely in good health and able to keep working. With the usual constant demand for car repair services such as tire, filter and oil changes, Roy expects business to be booming once everything gets back to normal. “It’s just going to be delayed a little bit more,” he said.

Pointing to the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, which includes different types of wage subsidies and loans for small businesses, Roy said he hopes to take advantage of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy that would cover 75 per cent of employee wages for a 12-month period. With his business back up and running, Roy said he has nothing to complain about, despite the difficult circumstances. “We’re going to roll up our sleeves and work harder,” he said. “We’ll get out of this … the guys are happy. They’ll be able to get paid.”

Going forward, Roy plans on keeping up with the provincial government’s announcements and following the proper guidelines to flatten the curve to get back to normal life as soon as possible.